a blade?â
âMan, that shit is not funny.â
âIâm not laughing. You were the one chained to a hotel bed while she whipped your ass with a mini whip. Thatâs not cool. Thatâs demented.â
I looked at Xavier and tried to maintain a straight face. He stared back, silently daring me to start laughing.
âI arrived at your hotel to rescue your ass, thinking Iâm going to have to fight myself out of a bad situation, and there you are, wrapped up in a sheet, looking like black Jesus. And then I see the whelp marks where old girl fucked you up like Kunta Kinte. No, that shit is not funny.â I then proceeded to laugh so hard, my stomach hurt.
âFuck you, man,â Xavier said.
When I finally recovered, I said, âXavier, I can laugh at it now because you survived. You survived stronger and wiser.â
âVery true.â
We pumped fists, then continued to take turns shooting back and forth.
âI ran into Kendall and her new husband.â
That made me pause. âI bet that shit was awkward as hell. Damn, it couldnât have been me.â
âTell me about it,â Xavier said.
âSo whatâs up? What did she say? Better question, what did you say?â
âOnce I recovered from the shock of seeing her standing there, looking beautiful, I wasnât sure what to say.â
I laughed. âMr. Writer was at a loss for words. Thatâs a first.â
âI thought she was a figment of my imagination. Man, she took my breath away, and when she leaned in to hug me, I almost forgot old dude was standing there.â
âHugs? Iâm surprised she didnât slap the spit out of your mouth.â
âTo be honest, me, too. I still feel guilty over how our relationship ended, and I still think of her at times.â
âI bet you do. A man always wants what he canât have, and now that another man is stroking that, well, Iâm sure it is killing you to think about what you could have had.â
âI donât need you to attempt to read my feelings like some amateur psychologist.â
âCall it what you must, but you know it was killing you to see her with mister,â I said as I threw the ball at him.
âDude was staring me down, giving me the once-over.â
âDamn.â
âTried to downplay my profession and give me the virtues of a surgeon.â
âDamn,â I said, biting my balled-up fist. âOuch.â
âYeah, he was an arrogant son of a bitch. He definitely seemed like the controlling type who would have Kendall on lockdown.â
âMaybe, but thatâs not your concern anymore.â
âI realize that, but you donât know how badly I wanted to kick his pompous ass.â
âMan, who are you talking to? The public gets to see the articulate, poised, well-spoken author. I know the side that can get downright grimy and dirty.â
âDamn straight.â
âHow did this little meeting end?â
âI kept my cool and tried to persuade Kendall to meet me for lunch.â
âIn front of her husband?â
âNo, fool. He had walked off by then to answer a phone call.â
âWhatâs the point of lunch? Itâs a done deal, man. Just learn to lie in the bed you made.â
âLike I said, I feel guilty. Itâs almost like I need to apologize and right my wrongs from the past before I can move forward.â
âI feel you. However, I honestly donât know if youâll ever get that opportunity with Kendall. I always warned you about fucking around on that sweet thing.â
âYou did, but my other head spoke louder while Pilar was whispering in my ear.â
âMy advice is to leave that happily married woman alone and move on with your life. Thatâs real talk. Anything other than that is asking for trouble.â
âToo late. Kendall looked me up on Facebook, e-mailed my in-box, and we are meeting for
Debbie Viguié
Dana Mentink
Kathi S. Barton
Sonnet O'Dell
Francis Levy
Katherine Hayton
Kent Flannery, Joyce Marcus
Jes Battis
Caitlin Kittredge
Chris Priestley